Wine Bazar

The wine industry spends a lot of time and energy fighting for the attention of global consumers. In particular, they′ve tried hard to market seasonally to consumers, but they just can’t quite compete with the likes of Oktoberfest for beer drinkers. The best that the wine industry has been able to come up with sends even the most tolerant wine lovers running for cover every November, as the rollout of Beaujolais Nouveau reaches ever more spectacular heights of commercial bling.

It would be one thing if the wine was even somewhat drinkable. But these days, what passes for Beaujolais Nouveau is, by and large, utter crap. That’s just my professional opinion, of course, and no offense meant to those who enjoy a bottle of the banana and bubble gum concoction that is foisted on consumers the third Thursday in November each year.

It’s sad that such wine, and the marketing hoopla that goes with it, has become so entrenched in the industry, and even sadder still that we can’t come up with a better event with better wine. OK, maybe New Year’s Eve and Champagne are a saving grace here.

But let’s get back to Beaujolais. Because today I want to talk about the other Beaujolais — the quiet, shy sister to the airhead that is Nouveau.

Beaujolais, is of course, a wine region that snuggles up to the southern borders of Burgundy in East-Central France. For centuries, Beaujolais was simply a neighbor of Burgundy that happened to grow more of the grape Gamay Noir than the land to the north, thanks to the grape’s preference for the granitic soils of the region rather than the limestone of Burgundy. In 1395 Philip the Bold, the Duke of Burgundy, ordered that all the Gamay vineyards of Burgundy be torn up, and forever banned from the region. Rather suddenly, Beaujolais became a much more unique wine region, and a safe haven for a grape that went from widespread popularity in France to nearly being unknown thanks to Ducal decree.

Beaujolais as a region produces several classifications of wine, the vast majority based on Gamay, from the wine simply labeled Beaujolais to appellation designated wine from Beaujolais Villages, or the ten “Cru” appellations of the region: Morgon, Régnié, Brouilly, Côte-de-Brouilly, Moulin-à-Vent, Fleurie, Juliénas, St-Amour, Chénas, and Chiroubles.

These latter appellations, and in particular Morgon, play host to a resistance movement that is slowly proving to a widening circle of wine lovers that the region deserves a better reputation than Nouveau is capable of supporting.

This new reputation for more serious wines is largely the work of a band of winemakers that have retrenched to more traditional Burgundian grape growing and winemaking methods. Known as the Gang of Four, these winemakers have spent the last twenty or more years making wines that are the complete opposite of Beaujolais Nouveau.

Which is to say that they are actually quite good.

Jean-Paul Thevenet is one of the Gang members (the others being Guy Breton, Jean Foilard, and Marcel Lapierre) and perhaps best embodies the “old school” qualities that these winemakers have championed in the region.

Thevenet works a plot of extremely old vines in the Morgon appellation. The average age of the vines is 70 years and they are cultivated organically and yield very little fruit. The grapes are fermented with natural yeasts and, quite remarkably, often without the addition of any sulfur dioxide (commonly used by winemakers as a preservative and to prevent bacteriological growth). After fermentation Thevenet ages the wine for six to eight months in used oak barrels that he manages to get from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. It is bottled without filtration.

Thevenet’s wines, as well as the rest of his gang (and those of a number of producers that have started to follow suit in the region) represent a fundamentally different side of Beaujolais and the Gamay Noir grape. A side that frankly deserves a lot more celebration than the millions of liters delivered with fanfare every November.

Tasting Notes:
Light ruby in color, this wine has a rich, loamy nose of cassis and cranberry aromas with darker notes of fruit and earth underneath. In the mouth it is lush — silky, smooth, and very nicely balanced with flavors that bounce between the red tart fruit of cranberry and the darker, juicier notes of cassis. The tannins are faint, nearly imperceptible, and tinged with notes of smoke and wet dirt. This wine is concentrated to a perfect degree, rich without being overpowering, and pure without being too polished. Lovely.

Food Pairing:
I’d love to drink this wine to accompany pork tenderloin with pomegranate sauce.

Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5

How Much?: $23

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Alyssa Nair)

We don’t have a Cru classification in California (we just have mailing lists and release prices) but there are a few vineyards in the state that would most certainly be at the top of the list. Their names are well known to those wine lovers who can afford the generally expensive wines they produce, and one of them is unquestionably the Hirsch Vineyard.

First planted in 1980 by farmer David Hirsch, the Hirsch Vineyard is located on the mountain ridges above the northern California town of Fort Ross at 1500 feet above the ocean surface and 3.5 miles as the crow flies from its crashing waves. One of the pioneers of a region known as the Extreme Sonoma Coast, this 72 acre vineyard is planted mostly with Pinot Noir which thrives above the fog line in the unique and powerful mix of sunlight and cool ocean breezes. Within several years of its planting, the vineyard was recognized as one of the top sources of Pinot Noir in the country.

Williams Selyem winery is one of the main advocates and customers of the Hirsch Vineyard, and the Pinot Noir they make from this vineyard every year is almost always one of the finest in California.

Williams Selyem was founded in 1981 by Burt Williams and Ed Selyem, two friends who started making wine together in their garage in Forestville, California in the late seventies just because they loved the stuff, wanted to drink more wine together, and loved a challenge. A few years later, what started as a hobby became an avocation, and in a few more years, a cult phenomenon. Over the course of a decade or two Williams Selyem winery played a major role in establishing Sonoma County as a premier winegrowing region, and establishing California as a world-class Pinot Noir producing region.

Surprisingly, the two didn′t start with Pinot Noir as a goal. They were more excited about Zinfandel (which William Selyem still makes) but it was ultimately Pinot Noir that captured the majority of their attention, and the attention of the wider world when their 1985 Rochioli vineyard Pinot Noir was the winner at the California State fair in 1987, and the winery was simultaneously awarded the designation Winery of the Year.

At that point Williams Selyem was still just two guys in a garage, marshaling an army of friends to meticulously hand pick, hand sort, and hand crush small lots of grapes from what were at the time, relatively young but clearly very high quality vineyards. They quickly found themselves with the demand, and the capital, to invest in a proper winery.

By the early Nineties, William-Selyem had become one of Sonoma County’s first cult wineries. People were waiting years to get on their mailing list, and the wines were selling out before they ever got the chance to hit retail stores. But about that time, Burt and Ed were ready for a break after nearly 20 years of winemaking, and sold the winery to its present owners, John and Kathe Dyson in 1998. While the ownership and winemaking team has changed, the demand for the wines has not.

Currently the winemaking is done by Bob Cabral, Lynn Krausmann and oenologist Adam Goodrich, with little deviation from the strictly minimalist approach taken by the founders. Even today, no mechanical pumping is ever done to the wine, nor any filtration, and the wine is aged in a mix of French oak of which about 50% is new. Babied through the entire winemaking process process, apart from a forklift and a press, nearly everything is done by hand by this small group of individuals under Cabral’s careful direction.

Williams Selyem’s success as a winery has afforded it the luxury of being able to make no compromises when it comes to winemaking, which includes the ability to be a bit more European about working with the wine — the wine takes as long as it takes — to ferment, to age, to sit in the bottle.

This particular wine was aged in 67% new oak and 37% 1-year-old oak barrels for about 16 months before being bottled unfiltered.

Tasting Notes:
Light garnet in color, this wine has an elegant nose of raspberries, cherries, and crushed herb aromas. In the mouth it is equally as elegant, even distinguished, with gorgeously textured flavors of raspberry, red apple skin, hints of citrus oil, and a woody undertone that provides a base note to the brighter flavors. Perfectly balanced, this is a beautiful rendition of Pinot Noir that gives ample time to reflect as much in its long finish.

Food Pairing:
This would beautifully accompany a nice charcoal roasted quail.

Overall Score: around 9.5

How Much?: $72 to mailing list customers, though it goes for $95 and higher in retail stores.

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Levi Reiss)

California’s Anderson Valley remains one of its least known and most under-appreciated wine regions. In particular I believe it to be under-appreciated for its Pinot Noir, in particular, and in some cases, its Alsatian varieties of wine. I offer a slight caveat to the latter because while Anderson Valley is certainly known for producing wines in the style and varieties of those found in Alsace, France, in my experience they are mixed in quality.

But when winemakers manage to get things right, Anderson Valley can produce some stunning examples of wines that might, in the right circumstances be mistaken for their Alsatian forbears.

Such is the case with the newest release from a little outfit known as Handley Cellars. Perhaps the best adjective to describe Handley Cellars might be “quaint.” This small, family-run operation is located in the heart of the Anderson Valley, just up the road a piece from downtown Philo, at the 19th century Holmes Ranch.

U.C Davis trained winemaker and owner Milla Handley has been making wine since 1982. Handley got her start as a winemaker in the Seventies working at Chateau St. Jean and then later at Edmeades winery when she moved her family to Anderson Valley.

These days, with the help of her family and “co-winemaker” Kristen Barnhisel, who joined Handley in 2004, Handley now produces a modest 14,000 cases a year with fruit from the Anderson Valley estate as well as other sources throughout the valley and further afield. The portfolio includes both a number of Alsatian style wines, Pinot Noir, Sparkling, and dessert wines.

This is the first vintage that Handley has made a Pinot Blanc, however. The fruit is grown on mature vines (planted in the early 90’s) in the Hein Vineyard at the northern end of the Anderson Valley.

After harvesting on a cool morning, the grapes for this wine are pressed directly into tanks where it settles for a few days before fermentation begins. After the primary fermentation to dryness, some of the juice (15%) goes into neutral oak barrels, while the rest goes into stainless tanks for about six months. Only a small portion of the wine goes through a secondary, malolactic fermentation before the wine is bottled.

About 400 cases are made.

Full disclosure: I received this wine as a press sample.

Tasting Notes:
Light greenish gold in color, this wine has a nose of cold cream, old paper, and surprisingly, jackfruit. In the mouth, flavors of jackfruit predominate amidst silky textures, nice acidity, and a hint of incense and spiciness on the finish. Utterly lovely.

Food Pairing:
This would be a lovely cheese wine in my opinion, especially with saltier hard cheeses like aged gouda or aged piave.

Overall Score: between 9 and 9.5

How Much?: $20

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Levi Reiss)

Most people faced a with the choice of merely a specific color of wine to drink will consider their stated preference between the options of red, white, or pink. My choice is none of the above. If I had to swear my allegiance to one color of wine, it would be orange.

I have a friend who has seriously suggested that the world ought to acknowledge orange as a legitimate fourth color when it comes to wine. I don’t know that I’d go that far, but I would seriously suggest that everyone drink as much of it as they can get their hands on.

Orange wines aren’t easy to come by, but to my mind they represent some of the most exciting wines being made on the planet. And this wine is a perfect example.

La Stoppa winery began in 1973 with the vision of Rafael Pantaleoni, who purchased the estate with the hopes of making a small amount of wine and an honest living for his family. The land, which occupies a nook in the Piacenza province of Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, has been planted with vines for well over 100 years. The estate’s original owners left Pantaleoni and his daughter, who now runs the winery, a gift of some extremely old vines growing both Italian and French varieties.

With a lot of work, the Pantaleoni family have retained and nurtured some of the oldest vines of the estate, as well as carefully replanting and restructuring the vineyards to include more of the local varieties. The roughly 70 acres of vineyards in the shade of the estate’s medieval tower are rather sparsely planted as well as nutrient poor from a soil standpoint. Consequently, those 70 acres don′t produce much fruit, but Elena Pantaleoni and her winemaker Giulio Armani make good use of what they get.

And by good use, I mean making wines that speak of a startling vision, of which this wine named Ageno is perhaps the best example.

This wine is made from a combination of three white grape varieties: Malvasia, Trebbiano, and the extremely local variety known as Ortrugo, with the majority of the wine being Malvasia grown on 36-year-old vines. As a blend this is already somewhat unusual, but things get truly wacky as soon as the grapes are picked and destemmed, for instead of being vinified like a white wine, this one is treated like a red, which means chiefly that it is fermented with native yeasts in contact with its skins for more than 30 days. After this it is pressed off into a combination of steel tanks and neutral oak barrels where it ages on its lees (the sediment that settles to the bottom of the barrel) for 12 months before bottling without filtration of any kind.

This is the third vintage of Ageno of which only about 160 cases are made. This small quantity means that it may be difficult to find, but if you can, it is worth all the effort and whatever price you might have to pay, as it represents both a great achievement of artisan winemaking as well as a perfect example of why orange wines kick ass.

Tasting Notes:
A gorgeous medium amber-orange color in the glass, with a distinct haze of cloudiness, this wine has a phenomenal, almost otherworldly nose of exotic flowers, saffron, and orange creamsicle. On the palate it is weighty, with a texture that is almost tannic in quality, gripping the tongue with like a velvet glove. From a flavor standpoint it is nearly indescribable — brown sugar, honeysuckle, saffron, cream soda, and unbelievably, the distinct flavor of coffee and cream on a finish that can be measured in minutes. Evolves gorgeously in the glass, and I highly recommend decanting for 1-2 hours prior to serving, especially if you can keep it cool while decanting.

Food Pairing:
While the amazing individuality of this wine begs for careful consideration on its own, I enjoyed it with hard Italian cheeses and Jamon Iberico.

Overall Score: between 9.5 and 10

How Much?: $30

This wine is available for purchase on the Internet.

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Levi Reiss)

I make it my habit to pay attention to new, small wineries. Generally that means seeking them out at public tastings, perking up my ears when I hear the names of wineries I don’t know, and approaching each box of unknown wine I get on my doorstep as the potential to be something new and exciting.

Generally, whatever you might like to call these efforts of mine, if they can be described as efforts, tend to be focused on California. This probably comes as no surprise to most, but that has nothing to do with my preferences, so much as it does with where I live, who I know, and who happens to know about Vinography.

Perhaps it’s no wonder, then, that when I stumble across a small, brand-new winery from somewhere else that has started to make good wine, I get quite excited.

I must admit, I hardly stumbled across Cadaretta winery. My discovery of their inaugural vintage was quite the opposite of chance — their wines were literally handed to me by a group of folks from the Washington Wine Commission who happened to be passing through town and asked if they could meet me. My answer to all such requests, which I get pretty much weekly, is a firm “no.” No, because the folks asking are usually wineries or PR people that work for wineries. In an effort to maintain my reputation objectivity (I never want anyone to be able to say, “but they took you out to lunch, so of course you gave them a good score”) I eschew all such offers.

But in this case, the folks didn′t work for a winery, they worked for the State of Washington. Or perhaps more accurately, for every winery in the State of Washington. And they wanted to say hi, find out how much I knew about Washington wines, and like the Jehovah’s Witnesses that show up at my door occasionally, offer to expose me to some stuff that I might not have known about before. In the nicest possible way.

Cadaretta winery is a brand new winery in Walla Walla, Washington. They plan to be a proper winery with vineyards and a cellar, and probably a tasting room and all that. But they’re just getting started. Meaning they’ve literally just started planting their vines in the last couple of weeks. They’re so new that they got a damn blog before they even got themselves a proper web site. I love it.

Cadaretta fulfills the long held goal (and the entrepreneurial drive) of the Middleton family, a family whose roots in Washington State dig back deep into the 19th century, when they made their fortune, like many others, through an admixture of their sweat, their imagination, and the raw natural resources of the coastal-region-eventually-to-be-known as Washington.

The Anderson & Middleton company, formed in 1898, did what a lot of companies in Washington did back then: they cut down trees, chopped them up, and sent them south to California to be turned into houses like mine. The company was successful enough (and smart enough) to get into the shipping business as well so they didn′t have to pay others to sail their lumber down the coast for them. They got themselves a bunch of big boats, and they named one of them Cadaretta.

Four generations later, the company is still at it, albeit more greatly diversified. Twenty years ago they started farming wine grapes in California, and perhaps as a result, Rick Middleton caught the wine bug, and Cadaretta winery became the dream that is currently taking shape in the low sloping hills of the Colombia Valley.

Even though the winery just planted its first vines three months ago, they have recently released their first wines, made from purchased grapes by their winemaker Virginie Bourgue. Bourgue earned a degree in viticulture and another in enology in France, and worked in many French wine regions, including a long stint in Champagne where she worked for Louis Roederer and Bollinger among others. In 2002 she worked the harvest at Chateau St. Michelle in Washington and never left.

Under Bourgue’s direction, the estate vineyards are being planted to the primary red and white Bordeaux varietals (Cabernet, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc, and Semillon) with a little Syrah and Chardonnay thrown in for good measure.

I don’t know much about the winemaking or grape sources for these two wines, but even with purchased grapes, made in a custom crush facility while the estate winery is being built, they show a lot of promise.

TASTING NOTES:

2007 Cadaretta “SBS” White Blend, Columbia Valley, Washington
Pale gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of warm wheat and citrus juice aromas. In the mouth it is bright with acidity and mouth puckering, with citrus qualities and a hint of something…earthier… on the sides of the mouth. Intriguing and altogether pleasing. Long finish. Score: around 9. Cost: $17. Where to buy?

2006 Cadaretta Syrah, Columbia Valley, Washington
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of blackberry, cinnamon, and nutmeg aromas. In the mouth it is soft and velvety with flavors of blackberry, cloves, and cedar. Nice finish. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $28. Where to buy?

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Levi Reiss)

As you likely know, I make it my business to keep my eye on new California wineries, especially in Napa and Sonoma, as much as I can given the fact that I do a lot of other things besides write about wine. Whenever possible, I like to taste the first releases from these wineries. They are not always fantastic - some are good, some show potential, and some simply need to be written off as first efforts and retried again later. That’s the thing about wines, just because they’re not good now, that doesn’t mean they won’t be later, and, of course, vice versa.

It’s quite rare, however, for the very first vintage of a wine to knock my socks off. But when I got my first taste of Blackbird Vineyards out of the barrel a couple of years ago, I quite literally couldn’t bring myself to spit it out. I was immediately in love. And how delightful (and against all odds) that the best Napa wine I had tasted in many months was a Merlot.

Blackbird proprietor Michael Polenske is used to beating the odds unexpectedly. By all accounts he never should have gotten into wine in the first place. Spending one’s teens and early twenties in a fraternity at Chico State generally favors the the cultivation of a strong affinity for beer and bikinis rather than fine wine. But in between his finance classes, thanks in part to a roommate who turned him on to wine, he dabbled in the wine curriculum and spent weekends exploring Napa Valley visiting what were becoming his favorite wineries.

When he graduated from college, Polenske again took an unexpected turn, getting into the pragmatic financial planning industry just as everyone in that industry was moving towards more active money management. Polenske had the bright idea that he could do financial planning for people in the wine business, and so managed to find a firm in the Midwest that was willing to give him Napa and Sonoma as a territory. In addition to the territory of his choice, they also asked him if he′d be willing to cover the zip code 94025 as well.

It turned out that there wasn’t much interest in wine country, but Polenske found quite a lot of both interest and money in that other little zip code, which happened to be Atherton, California, and for which he found himself the sole representative in his company. Through a lot of trial and error, a ton of cold calling, and a significant amount of elbow grease, Polenske spent 10 years building a sizable book of business in Silicon Valley, learning more about and continuing to fall deeper in love with wine in the process.

And then one day, relatively out of the blue, JP Morgan called and offered him a job as a private banker. Like a small town kid picked up out of high school by the Major Leagues, Polenske walked starry eyed into his first day at work, sat down next to his colleagues with their Wharton, Kellogg, Harvard, and GSB diplomas on their desks, and when no one showed up to tell him how to do his job, he just did what he knew how to do. He started making calls.

At the time, the average JP Morgan banker brought on between seven and nine new clients per year. At the end of his first year Polenske had 35, a figure so shocking at the time, that executives at the highest levels of the company told his manager to get him on a global conference call so they could demand an explanation. Based on that call JP Morgan changed its approach to new client acquisition, and it wasn’t long before Polenske was in charge of the San Francisco office, and beginning to dabble in his other interests, including antiques (he would eventually go on to own Patina Atelier Antiques in San Francisco).

As Polenske’s star continued to rise in the financial services world, he kept his eye on Napa, thinking that someday it might be nice to build a lifestyle business. But each time he nearly got to the point of buying some land, another job opportunity would come along, and he’d be swept up into running a new company, division, or fund.

After years of almost buying vineyards, Polenske eventually decided to scrap the idea, and instead simply settle for a house on a hill in Napa with a pool. He ended up with a couple of houses on the flats, and a 10 acre vineyard. These things tend to happen in the valley.

Napa has a way of turning people into winemakers overnight simply because they stumble on the right piece of property. Polenske’s acquisition, as you might expect, was a little more strategic than that. Call it a compulsion to seek out the undervalued parts of the market, or just call it instinct, but Polenske found himself staring at a Merlot vineyard that was selling fruit to prominent buyers who were making 90 point wines from it, yet the prices they were paying for the fruit were below market rates. Never mind that Merlot was on the down and out. Polenske saw the raw ingredients for the perfect boutique wine brand, and his idle fantasies about building a lifestyle business instead of another hedge fund began to crystallize. The vineyard was named Blackbird, and when Polenske found out that in French Patois, Merlot means “little blackbird” the key turned in the lock and everything fell into place.

Today, with the help of winemaker Sarah Gott and winegrower Aaron Pott, Polenske farms the 10 acre estate vineyard to produce several wines under the Blackbird label (after initially launching the brand with a single “Proprietary Red”). That wine, now called “Illustration,” has been joined by “Paramour,” “Contrarian,” and “Arise,” (all varying blends except the Arise which is 100% Merlot). The winery also now produces a rosé called “Arriviste.”

The 2006 Illustration contains 86% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc, and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon from the estate’s 12 year old vines in Napa’s Oak Knoll District. After meticulous sorting and careful crushing and fermentation, the wine ages for 20 months in French oak barrels of which 70% are new and 30% are older. The wine is bottled completely unfined and unfiltered. 1,195 cases are made.

I’ve been watching the Blackbird brand evolve, and tasting the wines along the way and I continue to be thrilled with them. I don’t personally buy many Napa wines on release, but Blackbird is most certainly one of them.

Full disclosure: I received this wine as a press sample.

Tasting Notes:
Medium ruby in the glass, this wine has a nose of cocoa powder and cherries. In the mouth it is gorgeously smooth with bright cherry cola, chocolate, and juicy bing cherry flavors that dance on a lively bed of acidity. Velvety tannins sneak around the edges with a hint of sweetness and then pirouette slowly in the back of the throat for minutes. Fantastic.

Food Pairing:
Extremely food friendly because of its juicy acidity, this wine will pair well with a lot of foods. I’d enjoy it with a spiced, grilled rack of lamb.

Overall Score: around 9.5

How Much?: $90

This wine available for purchase on the internet.

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Levi Reiss)

Who ever heard of a non-profit winery? The first time the folks at Ehlers Estate told me they were, I laughed. But somehow it’s true — amidst the glitz and glamour of Napa, there is a small winery that feeds all its profits back into the cardiovascular research foundation that owns it. There is, of course, a story behind this most unusual of affairs.

The Ehlers estate was established in 1886 by Bernard Ehlers, who erected a winery building and carved his name in the stone above the doorway. Ehlers purchased the estate for $7,000 in gold coin from an aspiring vintner who went bankrupt fighting the phylloxera infestation that devastated most Napa vintners near the turn of the century. Ehlers planted the estate and ran it as an operational winery until 1901 when he passed away, leaving it to his wife, Anna. The estate changed hands several times over the next decades, but was worked constantly as a vineyard, even during prohibition (albeit surreptitiously). From 1958 to 1980 the land was split up and sold to several Napa wineries and landowners.

In 1987, Jean and Sylviane Leducq, who were embarking on a journey to pursue their passion for the wines of Bordeaux, began buying up these separate parcels of land as they came on the market. Eventually even the original stone winery building, and its adjacent land were purchased, reunifying the original estate.

With a complete working winery planted through the years with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petite Verdot, the Leducqs went about making wines inspired by Bordeaux. Then, in 1996 they donated the winery wholesale to the Leducq foundation, a non-profit entity devoted to supporting cardiovascular research around the world.

Presumably the winery operates as a profit center for the foundation, which I think is a pretty cool idea, especially since it appears that the foundation is interested in making sure that the winery produces quality product. So interested, in fact that after several years of organic farming, they have made the move to fully biodynamic viticulture and winemaking.

These time consuming and detailed oriented activities in the vineyard and cellar are done under the guiding hand of the young Rudy Zuidema whose resume includes familiar Napa names like Beaulieu Vineyards, St. Clement Vineyards, Cuvaison Winery, Honig, and Robert Craig Wine Cellars, as well as Wirra Wirra vineyards in Western Australia.

I’ve watched Ehlers estate closely for the past three years, and made extra effort to taste their wines as the winery increased its efforts and expenditures towards pushing their already high quality wines to the next level. With pleasure, I can say that the winery has hit its stride and is firing on all cylinders, if you’ll excuse the mixed metaphor. The wines show a level of craft and confidence that is admirable, they are packaged under a beautifully executed brand, and most importantly, they are damn tasty. I highly recommend people seeking them out, either online or by visiting their tasting room in St. Helena, which is somewhere that I usually send anyone who asks where to visit in Napa.

Full disclosure: I received these wines as press samples.

CURRENT RELEASES:

2007 Ehlers Estate Sauvignon Blanc, St. Helena, Napa
Pale gold with greenish highlights in the glass, this wine smells of unripe and green apples. In the mouth it is bruight and juicy with acidity, ripe green apple and citrus fruit, and altogether everything you want from a Sauvignon Blanc. Score: 9. Cost: $25. Where to buy?

2005 Ehlers Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa
Dark ruby in color, this wine has a nose of cedar, pipe tobacco and black cherry fruit. The body of the wine, supple and softly textured with tannin, carries primarily black cherry flavors. Deeper more resonant flavors of tobacco and wet dirt emerge as the wine lingers in a long finish. Lovely. Score: 9.25. Cost: $40. Where to buy?

2005 Ehlers Estate Cabernet Franc, St. Helena, Napa
Medium ruby in color, this wine has a nose of cherry, wet leather, and plum flavors. In the mouth it is super juicy with black cherry and plum flavors that swim smoothly across the palate into a finish that has hints of the floral. Score: 9. Cost: $45.Where to buy?

2005 Ehlers Estate Merlot, St. Helena, Napa
Medium ruby in color, this wine has a nose of forest floor and dried cherries. In the mouth it is all black plum and chocolate, with lovely faint tannins that grab the edge of the tongue and hold it lovingly but firmly. A nice finish brings in flavors of candied orange peel. Score: 9.25. Cost: $40. Where to buy?

2005 Ehlers Estate “1886″ Cabernet Sauvignon, St. Helena, Napa
Inky garnet in color, this wine has a nose of cherries, rose petals, and vanilla. In the mouth it is bright and bold with cherry, plum, and spicy incense flavors that have a lavender edge to them. The tannins are fine and smooth, and the wine has a nice long finish. It betrays the quality of being quite young at this point, and will likely improve with age. Score: 9. Cost: $95. Where to buy?

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Levi Reiss)

I went to South Africa to learn about its wines. This meant understanding first hand what the country’s wine regions and winemakers were capable of, and by implication, how they stacked up against the rest of the world.

My main activity in pursuit of this goal consisted of tasting hundreds and hundreds of wines at Cape Wine 2008, the biannual trade show of South African wine.

After about 10 hours of doing nothing but tasting wines, I had learned a thing or two about South African wine, the wine regions, and the various styles of wine currently being made throughout the country. I had also tasted some very good wine, a few excellent wines, but sadly, none that thoroughly wowed me. This realization itself was part of my ongoing education, as much as it was a slight disappointment that after traveling so far, the country did not seem to make truly world-class wines that could compete with the best from other countries.

But then I tasted the wines made by a young winemaker named Eben Sadie, and everything changed.

Eben Sadie got his start in winemaking in his early twenties, apprenticing at various producers before eventually signing on in 1998 to be the winemaker for a new label called Spice Route, headed by veteran wine producer Charles Back. Even by then, Sadie had already begun a quest to understand wine as deeply as he could, a quest that would take him to most of the major wine regions of the world to taste and work, and would eventually have him leave Spice Route in 2001 to start his own label.

Or more accurately, to start five different labels.

Sadie learned a lot of things in the roughly 8 years he spent intensely absorbing the wines and winemaking traditions of everywhere from Burgundy to Napa to Rioja, but perhaps none of the lessons he learned was so profound as what he says was his own realization that terroir really mattered. “Most winemakers get in the way of the wine. This is wrong. We need to remove as many things as possible to allow the grapes and the soil to say what they want to say,” he said to me over a glass of his wine at a dinner party in Cape Town. “I’m trying to get rid of everything.”

Indeed, Sadie′s winemaking could be described as either ancient or primitive or both, depending on your point of view. Of course these days, we have another word for that sort of winemaking: visionary. Most of the truly visionary winemakers of the world are all a little…. whacko, in the best possible way, if you get my meaning. Sadie sounds more like a philosopher poet than a winemaker, always a little drunk with passion about wine.

In addition to being Biodynamically produced, Sadie’s wines are handcrafted to an extreme — from the meticulous vineyard management of incredibly small yields, to the hand harvesting in tiny boxes, to the use of small, open-topped wooden fermenters, cement vats, and only the power of gravity in the cellar. The electricity to control the temperature of fermentation is the most modern piece of technology in the cellar. The grapes are pressed with a hand-cranked basket press, just as they are punched down by hand during the fermentation process.

Sadie also told me that he is in the process of eliminating all new wood in his cellar, again because, as he put it, “why would you add flavor to the wine? I want my wine to taste like wine, not wood.” His wines are aged in the cement vats and large 200, 300, and 500 liter ancient oak barrels, as well as some smaller “neutral” barrels that he reuses every year.

Per the requirements for Biodynamic production (though it’s clear Sadie would be doing it anyway, even if there were no such thing as Biodynamic certification) the wines are never fined or filtered, and are only fermented using native yeasts.

Sadie tends to age his varietals separately and then blend after about 12-18 months of aging, let the wine rest, and then put it into bottles for another period of aging.

When I met Sadie in South Africa he was slightly distracted, as harvest was approaching in the Northern Hemisphere. Why would he care? Because one of his wines is made in Spain.

Sadie Family Wines (comprised of three employees: Eben, his brother, and his sister) owns two different wineries and six different wine labels in two different hemispheres. In South Africa, Sadie produces three different wines: Columella, a southern Rhone blend, Palladius, an unusual white blend, and two wines named Sequillo, two more red and white Rhone blends. In Spain, Sadie produces three Priorat wines under the Dit al Terra, Arbossar, and Terroir Limit labels.

When I asked him about why all the different labels, he shrugged, smiled and said, “they are all different wines.”

While the wines are, indeed all different, the thread that links them together (at least all the South African ones I tried) is a rich complexity, and an incredible sense of authenticity.

Without a doubt, Eben Sadie’s wines were the finest I tasted during my entire trip to South Africa. But it is not enough to simply say they were better than every other South African wine I tasted, because this does not give them enough credit on their own. These wines are truly phenomenal — individual, quirky, passionate, and deeply satisfying. I cannot recommend them highly enough. And thankfully they are all available in the United States.

TASTING NOTES:

2007 Sequillo Cellars White Blend, Swartland, South Africa
Light gold in the glass, this unusual blend of Chenin Blanc, Grenache Blanc, Viognier, and Roussanne has a surprising nose of white peaches, star fruit, and greenish tropical fruit aromas that are tough to pin down. In the mouth the wine is nothing short of gorgeous. Lovely, silky texture carries flavors of peaches and honeysuckle that are balanced perfectly with a mineral acidity so that the whole wine resonates through a long finish that leaves a simple, lowercase, “wow″ at the end of my scribbled notes from the day. Score: 9.5. Cost: $25. Where to buy?

2005 Sequillo Cellars Red Blend, Swartland, South Africa
Inky garnet in color, this blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre has a beautiful dark nose of mulberry, earth, and cassis aromas. In the mouth it is the wine equivalent of Valentino in his prime — utterly seductive, dark, and just exotic enough to be mysterious. Rich, textured, complex flavors of cassis, mulberry, and other dark fruits, juicy with great acidity, linger into a long finish where the faintest hint of tannins emerge, but only for those paying close attention. And it’s hard to pay attention when all this wine makes you want to do is swallow, swallow, and swallow some more. Score: 9.5. Cost: $25. Where to buy?

2007 Sadie Family Wines “Palladius” White Blend, Western Cape, South Africa
Light gold in color, this wine has a nose of wet granite, clover honey, and lemon blossom scents. In the mouth it is angular and explosively bright with juicy lemon-flavored acidity and lean mineral qualities that mellow into cold cream and soft texture as the wine finishes lovely and long. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: $65. Where to buy?

2006 Columella Rhone Blend, Western Cape, South Africa
Dark ruby in the glass, this blend of Syrah and Mourvedre has a nose of bright cassis, blackberry, and grape aromas. In the mouth it is…there’s no other way to put it….rockin’ with flavor: cassis, blackberry, black cherry, and other rich ripe dark fruits swirl in a concoction that is shot through with a dry minerality and deep complex texture that evokes some of the best wines of the Northern Rhone. If I am reading my sloppy tasting note correctly, I believe the finish was described in the moment as “hot damn.” Score: 9.5. Cost: $80. Where to buy?

NOTE: the 2006 Columella and 2007 Palladius have yet to be released in the USA but will likely find their way here in the next 6 months or so.

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Levi Reiss)

During my week in South Africa, I had a lot of educational experiences that involved serious spates of tasting, but perhaps one of the most insightful involved my attendance at the Cape Winemakers Guild pre-auction tasting.

South Africa sports (to my knowledge) a rather unique organization known as the Cape Winemakers Guild. Started 25 years ago by eight South African winemakers, this association has been, and continues to be, the “who’s who” of the country’s winemaking talent.

The CWG has as its mission to simply advance South African winemaking to the highest possible levels of quality and international recognition. Membership is by invitation only (to be approved by a two-thirds margin) and all members must have been making “outstanding” wine for 5 years. Interestingly, membership resides with the individual winemaker, not with their current employer or estate.

For the past 23 years, the organization has been holding an auction of wines made by members as a promotional event, as well as to raise money for charity. These wines are not just ordinary releases, however. They are special lots of wine made exclusively for the auction, often in small quantities, and are generally assumed to be the very best effort of the winemaker in a given year.

The wines for each year’s auction are selected by the members of the Guild in a completely blind tasting, and must meet a minimum level of quality (as judged by the tasters) in order to be included.

Every year the Guild holds a limited-seating tasting the day before the public auction to give journalists, prospective bidders, and other members of the South African wine industry the opportunity to taste the wines.

This tasting itself is quite impressive, as the wines are poured for all 200 or so attendees by the winemakers themselves, and each is given a minute or two to speak about their wine. The wines are poured expertly and with a ruthless efficiency that would make even the strictest of restaurant sommeliers proud.

Here are my tasting notes for all 37 of the auction wines presented in 2008. My commentary on the wines as a group follows after the notes.

TASTING NOTES:

2004 Simonsig “Cuvee Chene″ Methode Cap Classique Brut, Stellenbosch
Pale gold in the glass with medium fine bubbles, this wine has a nose of freshly baked brioche. In the mouth the wine has great acid balance and flavors of tasty lemon zest, pears, and a general zippy juicyness. A smooth velvety mousse and a nice finish add to the package. 100% Chardonnay. 9

2008 Hidden Valley Sauvignon Blanc Reserve, Stellenbosch
Pale, nearly colorless in the glass with green highlights, this wine has a bright nose of passionfruit, star fruit, and green apples. In the mouth it is smooth and herbal, with a nice body, but perhaps a little lacking in acidity for me. Pleasant passion fruit flavors and a nice tangerine finish rescue it from utter flabbiness. Between 8.5 and 9

2008 Land’s End Sauvignon Blanc Reserve, Cape Agulhas, Elim
Palest gold in the glass, this wine has a nice nose of mineral green apple and rainwater. In the mouth it is cool and glassy with herbal, cut grass, cucumber, and green apple flavors. Nicely balanced, with a good mouthfeel, but perhaps slightly less acid than I would like. Between 8.5 and 9

2008 Steenberg “The White Savage” White Blend, Constantia
Pale green-gold in the glass, this wine smells of fried lotus root and green herbs. Yes it’s a little odd, but that’s what it smelled like. In the mouth it is smooth, delicious, with waxy qualities, and primary flavors of tangerine, pear, and daikon radish. Moderate finish. 9

2008 Nitida “Decorus” Sauvignon Blanc, Durbanville
Palest green-gold in the glass, this wine smells of cut green grass, rainwater, and star fruit. In the mouth it is bright with acidity, and offers gorgeous star fruit and gooseberry flavors. Classic in profile with a long finish, there’s nothing not to love. Between 9 and 9.5

2007 Teddy Hall Chenin Blanc Auction Reserve, Stellenbosch
Light gold in color, this wine has a nose of bright poached pear and butter pastry aromas. In the mouth it is fresh and bright in the mouth with buttered pastry, poached pear, and delicate honeysuckle flavors. Nice long finish. Slightly overwrought, but delicious. 9

2007 Hartenberg Estate Auction Weisser Riesling, Stellenbosch
Light green gold in the glass, the wine has a bright nose of lemon juice and pineapple aromas. In the mouth it offers pineapple flavors, a nice body that has a fresh, clear quality, and a hint of waxiness on the long finish. Between 8.5 and 9

2007 De Grendel “Koetshuis″ Semillon, Durbanville
Palest gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of old paper, dried kelp, and cashews. In the mouth it is bright and fresh, with very tart crabapple and unripe pear flavors. Very fresh, bright, and delicious. 9

2007 Cederberg Private Cellar Semillon, Cederberg
Pale green-gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of green nettles, brazil nuts, and balsa wood. In the mouth it is fresh and bright with lemon and grapefruit flavors and a balsa wood finish, long, bright, refreshing. Unusual and very nice. Between 9 and 9.5

2006 Flagstone “Weather Girl” White Blend, Western Cape
Near colorless in the glass with a hint of green, this wine has a nose of star fruit and unripe pears. In the mouth it is thick and smooth with nice green apple flavors and a hint of herbs. Has a delicious juiciness and texture that is compelling. Between 9 and 9.5

2007 Ataraxia Chardonnay, Elgin
Light yellow-gold in color, this wine has a nose of cold cream and buttered white toast. In the mouth it is beautifully mineral, with buttery flavors that do not overwhelm a core of lemon curd, bright acidity and grapefruit juice on the finish. Lovely. Between 9 and 9.5

2007 Jordan Chardonnay Reserve, Stellenbosch
Light yellow-gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of sarsaparilla, lemon juice and cold cream aromas. In the mouth it is quite mineral in quality, underneath gorgeous, thick juicy, cold cream, rainwater, and lemon zest flavors. There’s a unique quality to this wine that is hard to put a finger on. Excellent. Between 9 and 9.5

2005 Vriesenhof Pinot Noir, Stellenbosch
Light ruby in the glass, this wine has a nose of smoked meats and cranberry aromas. In the mouth it has caramel, oregano dried cranberries, umami, and a loamy quality. The body of the wine has great acid balance, poise and redcurrant on the finish. Somehow wine ends up being even juicier after the swallow. Definitely the best South African Pinot Noir I have had. 9.5

2007 De Grendel “Op Die Berg” Pinot Noir, Durbanville
Light ruby in color, this wine has a nose of fresh raspberries and cut raspberry leaves. In the mouth it is bright with raspberry and black raspberry flavors, hints of herbs on the finish, great acid and a beautiful texture. 9

2005 De Trafford “Perspective” Red Wine, Stellenbosch
Medium ruby in color, this wine has a nose of cherry with a hint of nuts and green bell pepper. In the mouth it is bright, and gorgeous with great acids. It possesses a very Loire-like, Cabernet Franc focused quality, and gorgeous explosive flavors of mulberry, cherry, cola, and a long, long finish. Between 9 and 9.5

2005 A.A. Badenhorst Auction Blend Red Wine, Stellenbosch
Dark ruby in color, this wine has a nose of chocolate and black cherries. In the mouth it is slightly green in the tannins, with black cherry, hints of old wood, and a nice long finish. Between 8.5 and 9

2006 Jordan “Sophia” Bordeaux Blend, Stellenbosch
Medium ruby in color, this wine has a nose of hazelnut skins, and forest floor aromas. In the mouth it is nutty, with earthy, cherry flavors, nice dusty tannins, and a pleasant nutty quality on the finish. 9.

2006 Thelema Auction Reserve Bordeaux Blend, Simonsberg Ward
Medium ruby in the glass, this wine has a nice nose of cedar, eucalyptus, and cherry aromas. In the mouth the eucalyptus quality continues with cherry, soft velvet tannins, plum and hints of cocoa powder on the finish. Nice. 9.

2006 Glen Carlou CWG Auction Reserve Red Wine (1.5 Liter), Paarl
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of cassis and black cherry aromas. In the mouth it is smooth with leathery tannins and nice acids supporting primary flavors of cassis and black cherries. While it gets off to a great start, the wine leaves me wanting a little something more. 8.5

2004 Waterford Estate Auction Reserve Red Wine, Stellenbosch
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of spicy meats and blackberries. In the mouth it is juicy with black and blue fruits, and tacky tannins that creep up on the finish carrying flavors of orange peel and teriyaki sauce. A blend of Shiraz and Mourvedre. Between 8.5 and 9

2005 Solo “The Guildsman” Cabernet / Shiraz, Stellenbosch
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of wet felt and forest floor. In the mouth it has a flavor of wet leaves, nuts, and dried black cherries. The wine has a dried fruit character with a bit of bitter earthiness - more than I’d want. — which lasts into the finish. 8.5

2006 Engelbrecht Els CWG Cabernet / Shiraz / Merlot, Stellenbosch
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine smells of mulberry and cassis - dark and inviting. In the mouth it is juicy with cherry and boysenberry flavors supported by leathery tannins. Nicely balanced with lovely fruit and a nice finish make this an excellent wine. Between 9 and 9.5

2006 Kaapzicht Cape Blend Auction Reserve, Bottelary
Medium to dark garnet in color, this wine has a nose of chocolate and cherry and coffee aromas. In the mouth it is oaky with sawdust and cherry flavors surrounded by leathery drying tannins. The wine has a long finish but overall seems a bit parched, like it is missing some juice. 8.5

2006 Beyerskloof Cape Blend, Stellenbosch
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of pound cake and hints of molasses. In the mouth it is lightly tannic with flavors of cherry, mulberry, and plum, and a somewhat abrasive finish that tastes like chewing on a plum pit. Between 8.5 and 9

2005 Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon Auction Reserve, Stellenbosch
Medium ruby in color, this wine has a nose of vanilla, oak, and bright cherry flavors. In the mouth it offers bright cherry fruit with a lot of oak (too much for my taste) plus cedar and vanilla flavors. The bright cherry fruit manages to supersede the oak, but not enough. Between 8.5 and 9

2005 Kumkani “Cradle Hill” Cabernet Sauvignon, Stellenbosch
Medium to dark ruby in the glass, this wine has a deep nose of forest floor, black cherry, and tobacco aromas. In the mouth it is lean and clean with primary flavors of tobacco, espresso, and cherry, all of which meld and linger with faint tannins in a nice finish. 9.

2006 Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon Auction Reserve, Stellenbosch
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of green bell pepper, cherry, and toasted oak. In the mouth it is smoky, with espresso, cherry, and oak flavors that linger into the finish with aromas of warm felt blankets. Quite distinctive. Between 8.5 and 9.

2005 Boekenhoutskloof Auction Reserve Syrah, Coastal Region
Medium ruby in the glass, this wine has a nose of bright blackberry aromas. In the mouth it is all bright blackberry juice explosion, all the time. Super juicy, delicious, with a long juicy finish. Uncomplicated but incredibly yummy without being simplistic or uni-dimensional. Between 9 and 9.5

2005 Graham Beck “The Catalyst” Syrah, Robertson
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of smoked meats and cassis. In the mouth it is high toned and a bit alcohol driven, with a driven, bitter finish that has suggestions of Brettanomyces taint. Wouldn’t drink again. Not Rated.

2006 Saronsberg “Dewaldt Heys” Shiraz/Viognier, Coastal Region
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a sweet blackberry and cassis nose with hints of the floral. In the mouth it is glassy and slick and beautifully juicy sweet. Primary flavors of cassis, blackberry and black plum fruit dominate, and the wine feels long, linear and smooth going down. Super juicy. Between 9 and 9.5

NV Luddite Wild Hoar Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon, Coastal Region
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of black licorice and black pepper aromas. In the mouth it has very pretty velvet tannins, nice blackberry, blueberry, and hints of black cherry flavors. Spicy black peppery and licorice on the finish. The winemaker accidentally used slightly more of a previous vintage to blend than he though, which forced the wine to be labeled as a Non Vintage. Between 9 and 9.5

2006 Cederberg “Teen Die Hoog” Shiraz, Cederberg
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of salty air and blackberry aromas that is mysterious and compelling. In the mouth it is spicy and big and round, with lovely, bright blackberry and black pepper flavors, velvet tannins and a long finish. Likely the best South African Shiraz I have had. 9.5

2006 Saronsberg “Die Erf” Shiraz, Coastal Region
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of sweet oak and blackberry pie. In the mouth it is bright juicy blackberry explosion with some heat on the finish, silky, slippery body, and zippy fruit. It’s hard not to love. Between 9 and 9.5

2006 Beyerskloof Pinotage, Stellenbosch
Medium to dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a bright, pungent nose of cherry, cinnamon, and spice. In the mouth it is juicy, spicy, and beautifully textured with high toned notes of cinnamon and cherry. The wine has great acidity, long length in the mouth and a lovely finish that brings in notes of redcurrant. Likely the best Pinotage I have ever had. Between 9 and 9.5

2002 Graham Beck “1001 Nights″ Muscat de Frontignan, Robertson
Light gold in the glass, this wine has a nose of molasses and honey and apricots. In the mouth it is thick like the love child of lava and a Victoria’s Secret teddy, with flavors of honey, apricots, and an unbelievably loooong finish of coffee. Gorgeous. 9.5.

2006 Boplaas Auction Cape Vintage Reserve Port, Western Cape
Inky garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of tea, brandy, and blackberry. In the mouth it is blackberry pie, blueberry, and some odd tea flavor than runs through the finish. Not to my taste. Between 7.5 and 8

1996 Boplaas 12-Year-Old Potstill Brandy Auction Reserve, Calitzdorp
100% Colombard brandy. Aged in the barrel of 12 years. What can I say, I’m not a brandy fan. The nose is bitter and astringent with a heavy note of alcohol and leather. In the mouth it is sharp and unpleasant to my taste buds, but the finish is effortless and long with bright creamy vanilla flavors. Brandy lovers swooned for this, but I’m a philistine in their crowd. Don’t pay any attention to what I think about it. I’m only writing a tasting note because I want every wine to have a tasting note. Not Rated.

THOUGHTS ON THE BEST WINES IN SOUTH AFRICA
It’s hard to argue that these wines represent anything other than the very best that South Africa has to offer. Apart from a couple dozen specific producers, these wines are the only ones that have gotten any recent critical acclaim (the Spectator’s James Molesworth and Stephen Tanzer both reviewed these wines in advance of the auction). The CWG ostensibly represents the best winemakers in the country (even if they do say so themselves) and the auction should provide a window into the height of their talents.

Assuming this is true, then what can I say about South African wine? Well, I’ll tell you what a friend of mine will surely say if I don’t say it first. If these are supposed to be the very very best wines in the country from its best producers, then it’s quite telling that my scores aren’t above 9.5. This particular friend would say something along the lines of “damn disappointing.” And he’d partially be right.

If South Africa is trying to compete at the top level of the global wine market, then it’s hard not to admit that a similar exercise (the top winemakers in the country making the best wines) in most other wine regions around the world would most likely have yielded a few scores closer to 10 on my scale.

But as true as that is, I still have a lot of enthusiasm for South African wines, and in particular for a number of the wines above, which were truly excellent. These wines represented a top level of quality compared to hundreds of other wines I tasted last week, and deserve the recognition and pride that they generate. And should you take price into account, they are unbelievable values compared to almost any other wine region around the world.

As a teaser for more to come, however, I will say that this particular group of wines did not contain what I consider to be the very best South African wines that I tasted on my trip. You’ll have to come back over the next few days to see what those were.

Original post by default@goarticles.com (Levi Reiss)

Greetings from Cape Town, South Africa! I′ve come down to the Cape Winelands to dive deep into South African wine in a way that isn’t possible in the United States. In most wine stores I′m lucky to find a handful of South African wines at most, and forget about restaurants, which often just have a single representative wine on their list, if anything at all.

So I′m here under the imposing shadow of Table Mountain to attend Cape Wine 08, the biannual South African wine convention — their equivalent of VinItaly or VinExpo. I′ll be visiting a few wine producers, having a few meals, attending a couple of seminars, but mostly I′m going to be doing one thing, and one thing only: tasting as much South African wine as I can.

At least, as much as my jet lag will let me. It hasn’t kicked in yet, but I expect it to in about 24 hours, so while I’m able to be rested, I’ve gotten started on my explorations.

My first event of the week was a lunch sponsored by the winemakers of the Simonsberg Ward of the Stellenbosch District. The South African wine regions take some time to get one’s head (and one’s tongue) around. Those familiar with California wine appellations will find the best analog to the Districts and Wards in the relationship between say, the Central Coast appellation and the specific AVAs (American Viticultural Areas) like Paso Robles and Arroyo Grande Valley. In South Africa, the Stellenbosch District represents the larger wine region, while the Wards are the equivalents of our AVAs.

The Simonsberg Ward takes its name from its primary geographical feature, Simonsberg Mountain, which nicely separates the Stellenbosch and Paarl wine districts, much as the Mayacamas mountains separate California’s Napa and Sonoma counties.

Simonsberg Ward is home to a mere 15 wine producers, most of whom focus on growing Bordeaux varietals and blended wines on the sloping, rocky hillsides that ring the craggy mountain.

After tasting a couple nice Sauvignon Blancs on the patio (with little space for me to take notes) we moved into a restaurant for lunch and tasting wines. Here are my notes from the wines I tasted. I found the wines competently made and varietally true, and some had great personalities. In addition to standard Bordeaux blends, some of the red blends in the area also contain Syrah as well as Pinotage, South Africa′s signature cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault.

I believe that I may have missed one or two wines on offer, but I plan on seeking them out at the convention tomorrow.

TASTING NOTES:

2004 Thelema Cabernet Sauvignon, Simonsberg Ward, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Inky ruby in color this wine has an intense nose of espresso and black cherry aromas. In the mouth it is soft and rich with flavors of cherry, plum, wet earth, and a spicy cedar note that seems to ride on the back of the suede-like tannins. Nice finish. Score: around 9. Cost: $27. Where to buy?

2000 Thelema Cabernet Sauvignon, Simonsberg Ward, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Inky Garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cedar and sawdust with a hint of red fruit lying underneath. In the mouth it is lean and taut with flavors of cherry, sawdust, and caramel, and light, dusty tannins. The fruit has dried somewhat but has not been replaced by more interesting secondary aromas and flavors. Score: around 8.5. Cost: n/a

2006 Warwick Estate “Trilogy” Red Blend, Simonsberg Ward, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Dark garnet in color, this wine smells of cassis and black cherry. In the mouth it is medium bodied with nice, smooth tannins that wrap around flavors of black cherry, and then on the finish, sweet cocoa. Pleasant but not amazing. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $??

2004 Tokara Cabernet Sauvignon, Simonsberg Ward, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a nose of earth, leather, and tobacco aromas. On the palate it offers a straightforward combination of cherry, spices, and a heavy helping of oak and vanilla, that ends up being the lasting impression of the wine. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $??

2005 Rustenberg “John X. Merriman” Bordeaux Blend, Simonsberg Ward, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Dark garnet in color, this wine has a remarkably savory nose of mixed herbs and what I’ll call “tree bark” aromas. In the mouth it centers on cherry flavors with a good helping of oak and dried herbs, and some unfortunate alcoholic heat towards the finish. Score: around 8.5. Cost: $20. Where to buy?

2004 Deleheim “Grand Reserve” Bordeaux Blend, Simonsberg Ward, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Medium ruby in the glass, this wine smells of a very pretty concoction of cherry, mint, and leather aromas. In the mouth the leather quality persists both in flavor as well as the texture of its grippy tannins. The primary fruit is a bright cherry that mixes with a nice minerality that lingers in the finish. Very Bordeaux in style. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: $??

2007 Laibach “The Ladybird” Bordeaux Blend, Simonsberg Ward, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Dark garnet in color, this wine has a promising nose of mocha and hazelnut aromas. In the mouth, however, it leaves something to be desired. All the flavor sensations seem to be at the top of the mouth, as this high-toned wine slides by the palate without engaging it, leaving very pretty aromas of cassis and oak but not much body to show for them. Score: around 8. Cost: $??

1995 Kanonkop “Paul Sauer” Red Wine, Simonsberg Ward, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine has a leathery nose, as if it brushed by a saddle shop on the way to the barrel. In the mouth it is smooth and lean, with sandalwood, and very soft cherry aromas that mix with incense qualities that show the wines age quite prettily. Score: between 8.5 and 9. Cost: n/a

2004 Kanonkop “Paul Sauer″ Red Wine, Simonsberg Ward, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Inky garnet in the glass this wine has a powerful nose of dark cherry, espresso, and tobacco aromas. In the mouth it is round, lush and juicy with cherry and black cherry aromas that are nicely balanced with earthier, mineral complexity. Velvety tannins trace through this perfectly dry, poised wine that feels like a river of cherry silk in the mouth. A gorgeous finish rounds out this absolutely top notch wine. Score: between 9 and 9.5. Cost: ??.

2005 Le Bonheur “Prima” Red Blend, Simonsberg Ward, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Medium garnet in color, this wine has a bright cherry smell, and primarily cherry flavors in the mouth. The wine shows a bit too much of the green bell pepper characteristic that is common sometimes in Cabernet Sauvignon for my taste. For those who are not put off by such flavors (which are a lot of people) this is a straightforward wine. Score: between 8 and 8.5. Cost: $14.Where to buy?

2005 Uitkyk “Carlonet” Cabernet Sauvignon, Simonsberg Ward, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Medium ruby in the glass this wine has a promising nose of cherry, leather, and earth aromas. In the mouth it offers a core of cherry fruit with lots of earth tones that somewhat overwhelm the fruit. These darker notes, combined with the drying tannins make for a wine that seems more bitter than it should be. Score: between 8 and 8.5. Cost: $??

2005 Quoin Rock Syrah, Simonsberg Ward, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a pretty nose of cassis and floral aromas. In the mouth it has, classic, strong blackberry flavors, and an unusual touch of chocolate before it heads to a finish that brings in tones of violets. Score: around 8.5. Cost: ??

2004 Morgonhof Estate Red Blend, Simonsberg Ward, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Medium to dark ruby in color, this wine has a wonderfully earthy nose. In the mouth it offers rich black cherry flavors with a nice spicy black pepper quality that tends a little towards the bitter side as the wine finishes. Score: around 8.5. Cost: ??

2005 Remhoogte Red Cape Blend, Simonsberg Ward, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Medium ruby in the glass, this wine has an odd nose of aromas that seem both vegetal as well as gamey while at the same time being neither. In the mouth it i